Builder discovers unexploded shell

The incident unfolded on Monday morning after the shell was discovered by a builder working at the site of the new Whitchurch community centre in Winchester Street.

The alarm was raised at about 9.15am after Russell Noyce, from Salisbury, found the shell, which was two inches in diameter and six to eight inches long.

"I was digging a hole and just came across it," said Mr Noyce. "We have found all sorts of things in the past and I had no idea what it was.

"I actually picked it up and showed it to my supervisor. He recognised what it was and told me to put it down quickly.

"It is quite rare to see something like this. We are often digging strange things up but I have never seen a shell on a site before."

The builders called the police, and officers arrived on the scene at about 9.30am.

They closed off Winchester Street from the town square to its junction with Micheldever Road and called the bomb disposal unit of the Royal Logistic Corps, which is based in Aldershot.

After examining the shell, the bomb disposal experts decided that a controlled explosion was necessary and Hampshire County Council officials were contacted to provide 200 sandbags for this to take place.

The sandbags arrived shortly before 1pm. These were packed around the shell and the controlled explosion took place at 1.07pm. The road was reopened shortly after.

Sergeant Matt Sard, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: "The bomb disposal team told us it was a six-to-eight-pound shell, but we have no idea where it was from, whether it was live or how it got there.

"We shut off the road but no evacuation was deemed necessary. With things like this, we take our lead from the bomb disposal unit.

"The bomb disposal guys packed the sandbags around the device before setting off the explosion. This worked well as nothing was damaged."

The builders were able to return to the site to continue their work after the controlled explosion.